How to use bake even strips

Bake even strips are a wonderful tool to help your cakes bake more evenly. Without bake-even strips, the sides of the cake pan get so hot that the sides of the cake bake faster than the middle. This causes the sides to be shorter and the middle of the cake to be taller. This is undesirable if you want to stack the cakes on top of one another. The bake even strips help cool the sides of the cake pan so that the edges and the middle bake closer to the same rate. It won't be perfect but it helps tremendously.

The first thing you do is fit the dry bake even strips around your pan and tighten the pin. Try not to poke yourself. You can order Wilton Bake Even Strips

 here.

Next, soak the bake-even strips in a bowl of cold water. Squeeze them a little to help them absorb some water. Let them sit in the water while you mix up the cake mix. 

Be sure to use Baker's Joy on the pan before you put the cake batter in. After you poor the cake batter into the pan, then you put the bak even strips on. Take the dripping wet bake even strips and slide them back onto the pan. Do not ring them out. They need to be as wet as possible. 

Then put the cake in the oven. Baking time usually takes longer with bake-even strips on the pan. You will be very happy with the results!

--Annie Pryor